1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to a method, system, and article of manufacture including a computer program product for routing communications. The invention is further related to a method and system for routing written and/or typewritten communications to a recipient in a format desired by the recipient and using a communication mode which is the preferred communication mode of the recipient.
2. Discussion of the Background
Devices which electronically route written communications to a recipient are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,513,126 and 5,657,461, both of which constitute part of the present disclosure and are incorporated herein by reference, disclose a system in which a person may define his or her preferred manner of receiving written communications. However, the system disclosed in the above-recited two U.S. patents primarily relies upon a sender determining the preferred mode of communication of the recipient and then manually selecting the mode used to transmit the information. A profile is defined by the recipient, this profile is made available on the network, and the sender can look-up the profile of the recipient and transmit the information to the preferred location of the recipient. However, while such a system was an early attempt to solve the problem of properly routing communications, there are no features of this system which permit a plurality of different locations, addressing information, or modes of communication to be programmed into the system so that an automated selection of one of the communication modes is made in accordance with the recipient's preferences.